


No Questions Asked

by alba17



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-15
Updated: 2010-12-15
Packaged: 2017-10-13 16:50:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/139490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alba17/pseuds/alba17
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Steve does Danny a big favor and there is the eating of donuts (Written for this  prompt: <i>Rachel finds out about Steve/Danny and threatens to take Grace away)</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	No Questions Asked

**Author's Note:**

> Beta by tailoredshirt (thanks!).

“Danny.”

The car doesn’t move even though the light just turned green.

“Danny, it’s green.” One look at Danny’s rigid face behind the wheel and Steve can tell he’s fuming about something.

“Yep.” Danny’s stolid expression doesn’t change as he presses on the gas and they finally pass through the intersection.

“Spill,” Steve says.

Danny heaves a sigh, his mouth tight. Another couple of blocks go by as his sighs get more and more drawn out.

“Danny...”

Danny hits the top of the steering wheel with a fist and the words start spewing out. “Damn it, I didn’t think she’d go there.” Must be about the envelope from a law firm Steve saw him looking at earlier.

Danny glances at Steve, then back to the road - not that he’s actually paying much attention to it. “She’s really got some nerve, you know? When she’s the one who dragged Grace out here to the ends of the earth just because she wanted to shack up with whatshisname, dragging me along with her.” He blows a breath out. “When I finally find someone, she pulls this shit. It’s fucking bullshit, is what it is.”

Steve’s heard this spiel a hundred times, but this sounds worse than usual. He and Danny have been feeling their way through this...thing they have, figuring things out as they go along. This is new territory for both of them and neither is quite sure how to negotiate the boundaries between the old and the new. “What’d she do this time?” he asks.

Another sigh. “Okay, somehow she found out.” Danny puts a hand up in pre-emptive protest. “Believe me, I didn’t say anything! I don’t know, maybe Grace said something about Uncle Steve. Anyway, she’s asking for sole custody because of,” he gestures between himself and Steve, “you know. Us.”

“Us.”

“Yeah.” They share a look. Neither of them is quite used to the idea of “us.”

“Can she do that?”

Danny just looks at him. “Does it matter? She’s doing it - or at least trying to.”

Steve pulls out his phone and jabs a button. There’s only one thing to do about this situation.

“Who ya calling?”

“Governor? McGarrett here,” Steve says into the phone.

Danny grabs his arm. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on.” He snatches the phone out of Steve’s hand. “Sorry, Governor? Yeah, Williams, McGarrett’s partner. There’s just been a little misunderstanding here.” A pause. “Everything’s fine. Sorry to take up your time. Bye now.” He throws the phone into the back of the car. “Are you nuts? Wait, don’t answer that,” he says. “Things are different now. Rachel already hates me, and probably you too now. With all this,” he flaps his hand energetically in Steve’s direction, “talking to the Governor’s just gonna make things worse.”

A beat goes by as Steve struggles with that. Given a choice, he prefers action over inaction, but he probably should defer to Danny in this. “Okay, okay,” he relents, blowing out a breath. “You know, this sucks. Rachel can’t dick us around like this.”

“Us?”

Steve looks out the passenger window for a moment, feeling sucker-punched. “All right, _you,_ he says gruffly.

Another sigh from the driver’s seat. “Look, I’m sorry.” Danny rubs his forehead with his thumb and index finger. “I know you care about Grace too. I just...I’m used to handling this stuff by myself. It’s been just me alone fighting Rachel for so long...I don’t....” He shifts and gestures with his hand as words fail him. He lays a hand on Steve’s thigh and looks him in the eye. “Grace has been my whole world. It’s going to take some adjusting, this _thing_ ,” he says.

There’s a vulnerable look on Danny’s face that Steve has never seen before and it makes his heart twist a little. His mouth twitches with the beginnings of a smile, and he clasps Danny’s hand briefly; a car horn blares. “Better look at the road, Danno,” he says.

“Oh. Yeah.” Danny takes a cursory glance at the road, then his blue eyes are back on Steve’s, as his fingers spread over his thigh.

 

“Rachel,” Steve catches up with her on her way out of her yoga class. By ways best left unexamined, he found out Rachel’s schedule and more or less stalked her for a week, determined to talk to her about the custody situation. She looks up in surprise. When she sees it’s him, her face settles into a hostile scowl. She keeps walking to her car.

“Hold up,” Steve injects a hint of command into his words. He can’t let this opportunity pass by.

She pauses. “McGarrett,” she says, eyes cold. Not for the first time, Steve wonders if she still has feelings for Danny. Maybe that’s what this was all about. But he’d really rather not think about that. “What are you doing here?”

“I want to talk to you about this situation with Grace.”

“Sent you here to do his dirty work, did he?” She glares at him and turns to her car. “None of your business, as far as I’m concerned.”

“Wait, hear me out,” Steve says, a hand on her arm. “Don’t do this to Danny, Rachel. Grace is his life. You know that.”

“Please take your hand off me.” She stares at his hand until he removes it. “Doesn’t sound like she is any more.” She disdainfully rakes her eyes up and down Steve. “I hear you and he are fucking now, not to put too fine a point on it.”

“Jesus, Rachel, it’s not like that.”

“Isn’t it? I’ve seen you guys together, remember. You’re kind of obvious.”

“I mean, it’s more than _that_.” He looks away from her. “I care about him. And I care about Grace.”

“That’s irrelevant, really, isn’t it, McGarrett? This is entirely between me and him.”

“Grace needs her father.” She’s got to listen to him.

“She’s got her stepfather now, who’s more than capable of providing for her. I really don’t think she needs to be spending time at Danny’s pathetic little flat while he plies her with junk food, trying to do the single father thing.” She pulls out her keys. “Probably sucking you off in the bedroom while she watches Sponge Bob,” she mutters.

“What? That’s ridiculous.” She was a piece of work. “Rachel, Danny moved all the way out here for her. He gave up his whole life, everything that he knew. That has to mean something.”

She looks uncomfortable, plays with her keychain. “Are you two going to move in together?”

Surprised at the abrupt question, Steve shifts, his eyes darting away. “It’s a little early to start thinking about that. Plus, we might kill each other if we were together 24-7.”

“Must be different when you work together,” she says ruefully. “It was always me waiting, alone, wondering if this was the day he wasn’t going to come home.”

Steve watches her face. He can’t tell if it’s sadness or yearning he sees in her eyes, and he doesn’t quite care to find out. “So, about Grace. Are you gonna drop this petition?” She doesn’t reply right away, so he presses forward. “Come on, Rachel. Grace needs her father as much she needs you. How are you going to look her in the face and tell her she can’t see her father anymore?”

Rachel examines him, assessing. “Or see you?” She frowns, adjusting the bag on her shoulder. “How can I be sure she’ll be safe? When she’s with Danny, things happen; the football game, for instance. And he told me what happened at your house – there was gunfire; you had to kill someone.” She sounds shocked.

Steve blows out a breath. “Rachel, I won’t deny that our work is dangerous. But Grace has nothing to do with that. Danny won’t be working when she’s with him, and her safety is more important to him that anything else. He will move mountains to make sure she’s safe. I think in your heart, you know that’s true.”

She searches his face, doesn’t say anything.

“Imagine how Grace would feel, not being able to see Danny, how she might feel about _you,_ ” he pleads again. “I’m sure StepSt…, uh, her stepfather is a wonderful parent to her, but she still needs Danny, her real father.”

Her expression softens slightly as she clicks the key to open her car door. “I’ll think about it, McGarrett. That’s all I can say right now.”

Thank god. “Thanks, Rachel.” As she gets in her car, Steve feels a wave of relief. He only hopes she sees reason and drops the petition. It kills him to see Danny suffer.

 

The next day at Five-0 headquarters, Danny comes bouncing in carrying a box of donuts. “Hey, I got donuts!”

Steve gets up from his paperwork. “Donuts? What’s the occasion?” As if he doesn’t know.

“Does there need to be an occasion? We’re cops, aren’t we?”

Kono snickers at her monitor.

“Just wondering if there’s a connection between you eating donuts and your refusal to swim,” Steve deadpans.

Danny rolls his eyes, and makes no reply, putting the box on the desk and opening it up, the irresistible smell of sugary fried dough wafting through the office. “I keep telling you, I can swim fine, I just prefer to stay dry. And as you should know, I have no problem taking my shirt off.” He makes a face, obviously realizing he’s slipped.

Steve’s eyes dart to Kono, who thankfully seems focused on her work. But he wouldn’t put it past her to ambush one of them later about Danny’s remark. Okay, Danny did have his shirt off that time the team had a beach BBQ and played volleyball, so they’re safe – for now. He can still feel the bruise on his leg from one of Kono’s well-aimed spikes - that woman is a menace.

Fuck, it’s going to be impossible to keep this thing with Danny from Kono and Chin. Why bother trying, really? Except Steve knows the ensuing teasing is going to be hell.

Danny reaches for a donut covered in powdered sugar and takes a bite. Steve finds himself watching raptly, observing the sweet white trail left on Danny’s lips and the way his tongue flicks out to catch errant crumbs. Good lord, that should be illegal. Steve pinches his nose, exhaling loudly, and sits on the edge of his desk next to the donut box. “So, why the donuts?” he asks, going through the motions of inquiry. He tries not to look like the cat that ate the canary, which is damn difficult when he sees how happy Danny is and knowing he had a hand in it. He grabs a jelly-filled donut for himself.

Danny finishes up his donut, wiping his hands on a napkin. “Hold on. Just a minute.” Danny holds his palm up. “What gives with that look? I know you don’t like donuts _that_ much,” Danny says, throwing the napkin in the trash can.

Steve smiles broadly. “There’s no look. What makes you say that?”

“Grace. Rachel dropped the petition. Something makes me think you played a part in that.” Danny’s smiling too now, looking at Steve with a raised eyebrow.

Steve looks impossibly smug. “Need some coffee with my donut,” he says, grabbing his mug from his desk and casually brushing Danny’s shoulder on the way to the coffeemaker. “That would be confidential information. Not allowed to divulge,” he says as he pours coffee. He turns and winks at Danny, who snorts in amusement as he perches on Steve’s desk.

He studies Steve for a moment as he approaches with his coffee. “Thanks. Whatever you did. Really.”

The look on Danny’s face, the tone of his voice, makes it all worth it. With a glance to make sure Kono’s still hard at work at her computer, Steve comes right up into Danny’s personal space, slotting himself into the V of his spread legs. “Well, I’m not admitting I did anything, but if I did, it was no problem.” He looks down into Danny’s eyes and presses his leg against the inside of Danny’s right knee.

“It didn’t involve the Governor, did it?” Danny’s looking a little flushed.

“Nope.” Steve grins, quite satisfied with himself, and reaches behind Danny to put the mug down on his desk. Swept up in a giddy wave of emotion, he throws caution to the wind and leans in close, so close he can smell the sugar on Danny’s breath. He’s lost for a moment, dizzy with Danny’s physical proximity, itching with the desire to reach out and sample the lingering sweetness with his tongue. “Just me,” he murmurs, the tug of want almost irresistible. He lifts a hand to touch Danny’s face.

“Excuse me, boys.” Kono’s voice arrows into his consciousness. “Ahem.” Suddenly Kono’s right there next to them – when did that happen? - stretching an arm toward the donut box. “Sorry to, um, break up this little party here.”

Steve puts his hand down and jumps back, putting a more normal distance between him and Danny, his heart hammering and trying not to look like he almost kissed Danny. In the office. With Kono _right there_. Yeah, impossible is right.

Kono smirks and occupies herself with finding a donut. She selects a glazed one and starts eating it. “Good news about Grace, Danny,” she says between bites as she walks back to her desk. “Continue on, guys, I’ll just be over here. Invisible. Testing out the camera on my new phone. Might send some pics to Chin. Stakeouts get pretty boring.”

Danny and Steve look at each other, and Steve ducks his head in embarrassment. “You know, I think I’m gonna just, um, you know...go get a soda from the machine,” he says, shooting Danny a glance and nodding in the direction of the door. He attempts to be casual despite the galloping thrum of his heartbeat. Kono and Chin are going to have a field day with this, he can just tell. Kono doesn’t take her eyes off her work as he leaves, but she mutters under her breath, “Like you’re fooling anyone, McGarrett.”

Crap.

Danny catches up with him at the soda machine as Steve’s digging in his pockets for change. “Really?” he asks. “You’re actually getting soda?”

Steve looks at him with raised eyebrows. “Er, yeah,” he says slowly, like Danny is stupid. “What’d you think?”

Danny rolls his eyes and gestures emphatically with both hands. “You just got a cup of coffee.”

“I’m thirsty,” Steve says, because – obviously.

“Seriously, I want to know. What did you do?” Danny leans against the machine, looking at him intently as Steve feeds it coins. “I know you did something.”

Steve pops the can and guzzles it before answering. “Yeah, you’re right, I did. I talked to Rachel myself. I just told her how you feel about Grace, how Grace would feel if she couldn’t see you. She said she’d think about dropping the petition.”

“So, no neanderthal tactics then?” Danny grins.

Steve snorts. “No. Not this time.”

Danny smiles at him in that special way he reserves for Steve before hitting him gently on the side of the arm with his fist. “Thanks, man.” He looks around. “Anybody coming?”

Steve checks. “Nope.”

His heart skitters a bit as Danny leans up and kisses him on the cheek, all sweet. “I owe you big time,” Danny says.

Steve grasps his shoulders, checking again that they’re alone before catching his lips in a brief kiss. “You’re welcome. You don’t owe me anything. I know what Grace means to you; she’s the reason you’re here, after all.”

“Not the only reason anymore, you know,” Danny says roughly, looking away, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“Yeah. Okay.” Steve feels flustered by that, but pleased. “Good. That’s good.” Very pleased.

There’s a moment of silence while they stand there, shifting awkwardly.

“You know, I didn’t get to eat that donut. You wanna…?” Steve gestures back to the Five-0 room.

Danny clears his throat. “Yep.”

They head back down the hallway, bumping shoulders or at least sides, once or twice.

“Kono’s gonna give us shit forever, you know that, don’t you?” Steve says.

“Yeah.” Danny sighs, as he pushes open the door to Five-0.


End file.
